This is Your Brain

Charles Spielberger, R.L. Gorsuch, and R.E. Lushene developed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). They wanted a series of questions that would help to distinguish the difference between temporary anxiety, often referred to as "state anxiety," and the enduring kind of anxiety referred to as "trait anxiety."(Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983)

The inventory is 40 multiple-choice questions. Each question can be answered with: almost never, sometimes, often, or almost always. T…

The Holmes & Rahe assessment is a collection of questions about stressful life events. It was created in 1967 to measure the connection between stress and illness. There is a total of 1467 points for all 43 questions.

Please note that while there is good evidence that chronic stress can lead to ill health, there is not much evidence to support the *ranking* of stressful life events in this manner. Even though this assessment isn't perfect (doesn't leave a lot of room for "grey areas"), this stres…

Implicit bias is unintentional and automatic. It affects us more than we realize. It's not abnormal to be shocked or embarrassed by the results of these 15 Implicit Association Tests. Please remember that the results do not define you, but they can empower you with better decision-making skills. This is why I highly recommend that everyone take these tests, especially my clients and other trauma survivors.

The IAT tests are offered by Harvard University and the results benefit research conducted…

Depression is extremely common. Even more so for entrepreneurs. A study from UC Berkley reported that entrepreneurs were 30% more likely to have a long-term or life-long struggle with depression. This is why it can be helpful for some of my more entrepreneurial clients to take a self-report that can measure the general characteristics, symptoms, and attitudes of depression. This article, by Benjamin Lee, outlines some of the reasons why owning a business can play such a large role in depression.…